Oil and Gas Consultancy

The Upstream Oil and Gas industry has heavy requirements for capital and operating expenditure, and faces unique and complex problems associated with natural uncertainty, unpredictable commodity prices, and the associated operational and financial risks.

The present environment of low commodity prices, rising exploration costs, and constrained access to capital has increased the need for in-depth, accurate and complete analysis of uncertainty, risks and valuation. Many investors and providers of capital have recognised that accurate assessment of the quality of assets, especially hydrocarbon reserves, is inherently difficult, but of key importance.

We bring a variety of actuarial and risk management skills to bear on the problems faced alike by the Upstream Oil and Gas industry, and those who provide finance. Working where needed in tandem with industry professionals such as geoscientists, reservoir engineers and facilities engineers, we can provide in depth analyses for the industry at Project, Portfolio or Company level.

For investors and financiers, we can provide an actuarial and financial perspective to support your valuation and due diligence process, for example reviewing the effectiveness of a company’s risk management strategy. We can give a professional opinion on the statistical assessment of the quality of valuations, assets, Production Forecasts and Field Development proposals. We can also support assessment of insurable risks such as Supply Chain interruption, Country risks or natural hazard, integrating this with review of non-insurable or hedgeable risks to provide a holistic risk assessment.

“To give added confidence to partners in farm-ins or joint venture, mergers and acquisitions, our assessment of the quality of a field development proposal integrates both technical and financial viewpoints, with particular emphasis on the risk profile of an asset, the quality of workflow used to provide results such as production forecasts, and the resilience of project decisions”

Barnett Waddingham brings a variety of actuarial and risk management skills to bear on the problems faced alike by the Upstream Oil and Gas industry, and those who provide
its finance and manage its risk.

Key contacts

Blogs

In response to a recent article, Iain Poole considers dealing with uncertainty in the oil and gas industry and highlights some of the key challenges in terms of general decision making, and in light of the current turbulent environment.

In a recent survey of over 160 Upstream 'megaprojects', with an average project size of $6.6 billion, EY identified 65% of projects as experiencing cost over-runs, and 78% experienced delays. We look at the inherent uncertainty with large CAPEX projects.

Finding Petroleum held a conference in November anticipating the COP21 Paris climate summit in January 2016. Given the topicality of climate change policies, a glut of oil, and low commodity prices, what impact will these have over the next few decades?

Is controlled-source electromagnetics (CSEM) technology the answer to solving the problem of
avoiding dry holes? Can it really define oil and gas deposits offshore below and help explorers to pinpoint the sweet spots for exploration and production wells?

April was unusually interesting for the UK Oil and Gas industry. Shell announced success in their bid to acquire BG Group and UKOG announced ‘discovery’ of reserves of 158 million barrels of oil per square mile at Horse Hill.

We were proud to take this award home for the second consecutive year, after being recognised by an esteemed panel of industry experts for our innovative solutions in technology and forward-thinking approach to complex business challenges.

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new business risk practice providing risk management services to corporate clients today. The new practice is to be led by newly appointed associate, Danny Wong.

Barnett Waddingham is thrilled to have been named Business Consultant of the Year 2015 at the inaugural Director of Finance Awards which took place at the Double Tree Hilton, Tower Bridge on 9 July 2015.